1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to technology for providing network-based resources, especially structuralized text, to user terminals.
“Resources” as set forth in the present invention are data that, regardless of the data form, can be provided on a network. Resources may be, to give an example, any such as structuralized documents, text files, image files, or program files. Further, resources may be data files in their entirety, or partially. A portion of a structuralized document could also be a resource.
A “structuralized document” means a data file described in a structuralized language (markup language) such as XML (Extensible Markup Language), or SGML (Stand Generalized Markup Language). A “fragment” means a portion of a structuralized document.
2. Description of Related Art
In displaying network-based resources on user terminals, methods that greatly load down the networks and user terminals are used. FIG. 14 shows a user terminal 1 connected through a network to resource-storing servers S1, S2. A link to fragment f2 is included in structuralized document d1 stored on the server S1. Fragment f2 is a portion of structuralized document d2 stored on the separate server S2.
The user terminal 1 requests structuralized document d1 from server S1, and acquires it from the server S1. Subsequently, the user terminal 1 structurally parses structuralized document d1. When the user terminal 1 carries out a section reference—that is within structuralized document d1—to the other structuralized document d2, it acquires structuralized document d2 from the server S2.
The user terminal 1 next parses structuralized document d2, and extracts fragment f2, indicated by a partial-reference identifier xl2 within structuralized document d1, from structuralized document d2. The user terminal 1 thereafter embeds extracted fragment f2 into structuralized document d1.
When carrying out the process just noted, even if the section reference xl2 refers only to a portion f2 of structuralized document d2, the user terminal 1 must acquire the entire structuralized document d2. This is true despite the fact that the section referent is often quite small compared to the entire structuralized document. Accordingly, with the goal of acquiring an extremely small part of a structuralized document, acquiring the structuralized document in its entirety over a network is a largely wasteful process.
The reason why is that the time required for data transmission ends up occupying a relatively large block in the structuralized document processing time. This is caused by the data transmission speed on the network being in general slow compared to the data transmission speed on the bus within the computer. Networks among server-user terminals especially are low speed compared to networks among servers. Accordingly, in situations where the process just described is carried out on a user terminal, much time is consumed by data transmission, whereupon most of the acquired structuralized document is discarded as unnecessary information.
Moreover, in situations where section references within structuralized documents are increased, or situations where within the structuralized document at a referent, further section references are included, the processing burden on the user terminals ends up being great. The reason why is that fragments have to be extracted by parsing the relevant structuralized document in its entirety.
On the other hand, whether a user terminal seeks to refer to an entire structuralized document, or seeks to refer to a portion of a structuralized document cannot be judged on the server end. This therefore risks copyright problems arising with respect to the section references. The reason being most text providers assume that the texts are referred to as is in their original form. More precisely, text providers are displeased by portions of their structuralized documents being extracted without permission and embedded into other structuralized documents, and yet not being able to grasp the places referring to those portions.
Furthermore, controlling the section-reference referents according to the text providers' intentions by the method described above is problematic. The reason why is that structuralized documents are acquired, and the fragment-extracting process is carried out, on the user end. Services that control fragments provided in reply to referrer users are for example contemplated. In this case, leaving control of the section-reference referents to the user-terminal end is not secure. This is because the user terminals are able to gain all of the information in the foregoing structuralized documents. Likewise, it is difficult for administrators of reference-destination structuralized documents to make practicable a process by which, e.g., only section references from certain specified structuralized documents are permitted. Therefore, administrators themselves have to monitor how structuralized documents are referred to.